Meet Alphalab's 2025 cohort of innovative Pittsburgh startups
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at pittsburgh@technical.ly.
National job loss trends are hitting Pittsburgh.
The latest employment data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a steady increase in the unemployment rate since 2023, signaling a broader trend of the US labor market cooling, which the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged last summer.
Locally, the fallout is hitting one of Pittsburgh's largest employers. The University of Pittsburgh placed a hiring freeze on faculty and staff, citing broader economic and policy trends.
In other parts of the ecosystem, though, business owners are still finding opportunities.
A local hub for entrepreneurs has selected a startup founder to run its programming. Plus, the popular accelerator program AlphaLab announced 15 new companies joining its 2025 cohort.
Read on below the chart for more on these decisions, and other power moves.
AlphaLab announces 2025 cohort, $100K for each startup
AlphaLab, a startup accelerator from Innovation Works, selected 15 startups for its 2025 cohort. The organization announced 12 of the startups in the cohort, with three more to be announced at a later date.
Most of the companies chosen this year focus on healthtech or AI-powered tools:
Admirra provides a specialized mental health practice management tool that aims to bridge the gaps left by traditional electronic health record systems.
Astria Biosciences, Inc. offers a cost-effective, non-invasive blood test to diagnose and assess the risks of cerebral aneurysms.
BAM! builds a battery-powered heating container that allows busy individuals to enjoy heated meals at any time.
DashStrom helps individuals start local children's fitness businesses with its platform that combines fitness and life skills education.
GripDynamix, Inc. patented a digital grip strength monitor that tracks lean muscle mass remotely, positioning grip strength as a vital biomarker.
Hardly streamlines career development services with AI-driven tools, working to save time for job seekers and workforce organizations.
Korion Health creates affordable at-home health monitoring tools, starting with the SoundHeart Stethoscope for remote primary care.
Orbits Oncology uses AI-powered computer vision to analyze organoid models, providing insights for biopharma cancer drug research.
Peachy Day offers the first integrative migraine app designed for health tracking, neurologist video visits and wellness coaching.
S&K Cosmetics delivers high-quality microneedling pens for at-home use.
SPM develops electric powertrain products designed for off-road vehicles.
Wood Wide AI works to advance machine learning for numeric and tabular data.
'Each of these startups brings a strong vision to the table,' said Aaron Tainter, director of accelerator programs at Innovation Works, in a press release. 'Our goal is to help them transform their concepts into scalable, high-impact businesses.'
Each company will receive $100,000 in investment and sector-specific guidance. The announcement follows a decision in January to unify the different AlphaLab accelerator programs, including AlphaLab Gear or AlphaLab Health, under one core curriculum.
Pitt, one of the region's biggest employers, orders hiring freeze
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) ordered a hiring freeze for faculty and staff this month, citing federal funding uncertainty. This followed the university's decision to pause admission to its Ph.D. programs in late February.
Pitt was the sixth largest recipient of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2024, receiving over $600 million across 1,062 awards last year. Under the Trump administration's plan to cut federal funding, including $4 billion in NIH spending, Pitt could lose around $115 million in funding, according to reporting from WESA.
Pitt's Chief Financial Officer Dwayne Pinkney later said at a faculty assembly meeting for the university that enrollment trends, inflation and flat state funding also contributed to the university's decision to order the hiring freeze.
Faculty members at the meeting voiced concerns about needing to fill critical teaching positions when the freeze was ordered, according to reporting from PublicSource. Pitt is one of the largest non-governmental employers in the city, with around 14,000 employees.
Ascender hires local founder to be new programs director
Ascender, a local hub for entrepreneurs, hired Annafi Wahed, founder of the bipartisan media startup The Flip Side, as its new programs director. As the programs director, Wahed will oversee the design and implementation of all of Ascender's programs, which include its incubation program and education series.
Wahed knows the space well. She is a 2023 alum of Ascender's Founder's Hat Program, which she participated in a few months after she moved to Pittsburgh.
'At a time when I was still struggling to find my footing in a new city, the sense of community and camaraderie the program gave me was invaluable,' Wahed told Technical.ly. 'I'm so excited to join Ascender's small but mighty team and help empower other entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh.'
As a startup founder herself, Wahed built a newsletter subscriber list of over 200,000 and raised $900,000 in investment funding. She also brings over a decade of experience across the federal, private and nonprofit sectors to the new position.
More power moves:
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's $10 million AI Safety Science program selected Zico Kolter, head of the Machining Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, to conduct a research project on adversarial transfer, a phenomenon where attacks developed for one AI model are effective on other models.
North Shore-based deep tech consulting firm Rivers Agile announced the launch of its new deep tech innovation center, located in Callery, PA. The 7,000-square-foot space will serve as a hub to test local projects, as well as advance the company's own products, like its augmented reality research tool Tupelo.
Wabtec Corporation, a North Shore-based technology provider for the railroad industry, appointed Juan Perez to its board of directors and will be a nominee for election at Wabtec's annual meeting of stockholders in May 2025.
AlarMax Distributors, Inc., a local wholesale distributor of security, fire, access control, AV and surveillance technologies, appointed Scott Shelander as its new president. Shelander brings 27 years of executive leadership experience to the role.
Electronics manufacturer Intervala named Robert McKernan as its new president and CEO. McKernan, formerly of Schneider Electric, will replace Teresa Huber, who served in the position for nine years and will now move to a strategic advisory position on the company's board of directors.
Duquesne University President Ken Gormley said he will step down from his position in July 2026 but will remain as chancellor, according to the university. He will have served as president for 10 years.
The National Academy of Inventors elected University of Pittsburgh staff Yuan Liu and Juan Taboas as senior members, which recognizes their contributions to developing technologies that have made, or aim to make, a significant impact on the welfare of society.
Doug Nicola, Madison Ebersole and Nathan Brouwer, all members of local community org PyData Pittsburgh, have stepped up to join the organization's team following an announcement that lead organizer Patrick Harrison would step down in mid-2025.
A group of industry leaders and experts launched a local initiative called the AI Strike Team. The group aims to secure funding, foster collaboration, develop AI-focused innovation districts and promote Pittsburgh as a global AI hub to attract investment, talent and new companies to the region.
The Regional Industrial Development Corporation, a non-profit focused on the economic development of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, will begin managing the advanced manufacturing production campus Neighborhood 91 near the Pittsburgh International Airport in October.
Pittsburgh Public Schools launched a new three-year career and technical education program aimed at diversifying and strengthening the next generation of teachers by engaging current PPS students.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order aimed at improving the hiring process for laid-off federal workers seeking state government jobs. Shapiro said he wants to fill 5,600 state jobs deemed 'critical vacancies.'
Electronics manufacturing startup Hellbender will move its headquarters to a 40,000-square-foot space on Penn Avenue in East Liberty, doubling its staff to 100 by the end of the year.
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Technical.ly
20-03-2025
- Technical.ly
Their dating app struggled to get new users — so they started an AI marketing company, too
Startup profile: ColdStart Founded by: Brandon Teller, Mary Richardson Year founded: 2024 Headquarters: Pittsburgh, PA Sector: Content generation, artificial intelligence Funding and valuation: $160,000 raised at a $15,000,000 valuation, according to the founders Key ecosystem partners: Innovation Works, QueerTech Founders of the queer dating app Bindr developed an AI-powered marketing tool to overcome a common problem often faced by early-stage startups. Now they've spun that tool into a whole second venture that's gaining traction with other dating apps. Known as the 'cold start' problem, companies like social media platforms or dating apps that launch with no users but rely on having a network to be valuable often have trouble attracting the first patrons who will help the platform grow organically moving forward. Despite its struggles with cold start, Bindr has now amassed over 250,000 users since it launched two and a half years ago, thanks to AI content generation tech built by cofounder and CTO Brandon Teller. It's been so successful that the Bindr cofounders recently spun out a new startup, aptly named ColdStart, to sell a software development kit that quickly generates marketing content adaptable to companies' target audiences — and it's already raised $160,000. 'ColdStart is now the thing that can fund things like Bindr,' Teller told 'We could run this app that helps the [LGBTQ] community and take monetization out of it.' Founded in the summer of 2022, Bindr gained around 10,000 users in its first year through classic SEO strategies. However, while participating in a startup accelerator program at Penn State University, Teller and cofounder Mary Richardson got a rude wake-up call: 10,000 users is nothing in the world of dating apps. Popular dating apps like Tinder or Hinge, for comparison, have millions of active users. And without users, Richardson said, investors aren't interested in giving cash to support the endeavor. Looking at those competitors, Teller saw that dating apps often create landing pages that specifically target certain demographics, like location or sexual orientation. For example, if someone searches for gay dating in their city, they might find a specific page created by a dating app to target that demographic. Building each of those landing pages can consume a lot of time and resources, Teller said, so he set out to build a tool that could generate thousands of pages targeting individuals who search for any type of queer dating in different locations across the US. After three months, Bindr had jumped to 40,000 users. 'If you search 'gay dating, Atlantic City, New Jersey' or pansexual dating in any state, Bindr is going to be the first result,' Richardson said. Bindr's content generation and user growth sparked interest from other dating apps that wanted to know how the early-stage startup had overcome the cold start program, Teller said. After offering free advice and doing some consulting work for a couple of months, Teller and Richardson turned ColdStart into a company. In just a few months, ColdStart has secured over $100,000 in contracts across a dozen clients, has over 250 companies on its waitlist and won multiple awards, including first place at Montreal's Startup Fest and the business competition Inc.U. In February alone, the company, recently honored as a 2025 Pittsburgh RealLIST Startup, added over $200,000 of annual recurring revenue, according to Teller. What helps ColdStart stand out is not just that the startup's AI-powered tool creates SEO-optimized content, but that it tests variations of that content to find out what works best with a company's target audiences and takes down what doesn't work. 'Our pages actually learn based on user traffic if it's performing well or not,' Teller said. 'We take the pages down that aren't doing well, so we're not oversaturating Google with bad pages, and for that reason, we get the best ranking for our companies.' A way to bring more people into apps with a rotating user base Dating apps are facing a crisis. Dwindling user retention and sliding revenue have plagued popular dating apps in recent years, and the public perception of these platforms isn't doing much better. The issue stems from a fundamental paradox: People use dating apps to find love and connection, but once they find it, they no longer need the app. This is a big problem for companies that need returning users to make a profit. Bindr could have faced the same paradox, but revenue from ColdStart could support the dating app instead of paying users, Teller said. 'The truth is dating is volatile and it's really hard to monetize,' he said. 'To make money on a dating app, you have to do certain manipulation tactics that I fundamentally don't agree with.' Monetizing a dating app often involves targeting the people who are most desperate for a connection, he said. Individuals who are struggling to find a connection on a dating app are also the users who are the most likely to pay for a premium subscription or extra features. While Bindr does currently operate with a similar model — a free app with the option to purchase a premium subscription — Teller said he and Richardson are considering offering premium Bindr features for free if ColdStart continues to be successful. Pittsburgh helps Bindr surge, despite political backlash Dating apps can struggle to secure venture capital funding because of the dating app paradox, as well as other factors like difficulty expanding into new markets and the challenges of exiting dating products, according to Andrew Chen, an investor and the author of 'The Cold Start Problem', the book that coined the term that inspired ColdStart. 'Pittsburgh is the first place that trusted us, that gave us a chance, that didn't discriminate but actually embraced our diversity.' Mary Richardson, cofounder of bindr and coldstart Securing VC funding for Bindr was especially difficult with the ignorance and stigma surrounding queer dating, Teller said. Because pitching ColdStart to investors has been much more successful, though, the need to generate revenue is on the back burner for the dating app. The founders are able to focus more on Bindr's mission, something they both said is extremely important, especially now with the current presidential administration's anti-trans policies. 'It's all about inclusive, safe dating. There's no sexual orientations, no labels,' she said. 'The reason it's blowing up so big is the [current] political climate.' Support from the local community has also really helped the company grow, Richardson said. In Pittsburgh, being part of the LGBTQ community has felt more like a superpower than a setback. 'I've never had a more accepting entrepreneurial community than Pittsburgh,' she said. 'Pittsburgh is the first place that trusted us, that gave us a chance, that didn't discriminate but actually embraced our diversity.' The support has translated to financial gains, too. Through participating in Innovation Work's AlphaLab accelerator program and participating in multiple pitch competitions, the app was able to raise $250,000 in its first year and a half. Looking for a cofounder? Find a friend first Coincidentally, Teller and Richardson met on a dating app. Teller had a partner at the time but was looking for friends and they hit it off, Richardson said. That friendship has been the foundation for their professional relationship over the past six years. 'I think the reason that we do work so well together, is because we started off as friends,' Richardson said. Although Richardson and Teller share similar backgrounds, both hailing from central Pennsylvania and identifying as members of the LGBTQ community, they bring vastly different skills and missions to their partnership. For Teller, building startups is his 'drug of choice,' he said. He's been building companies since he was 18 years old and started coding even earlier. At just 11, Teller built his first website, Coaster Source, a platform for rollercoaster enthusiasts that's attracted thousands of users and continues to operate today. Teller's entrepreneurial drive is fueled by a deep mission to one day cure type-one diabetes. Richardson, on the other hand, has sales experience that she said has helped her win every pitch competition she's entered. She's driven by a commitment to ending conversion therapy, and she believes her efforts with Bindr and ColdStart can help make that vision a reality. Richardson and Teller's advice for founders looking for a business partner? Focus on character first, not skills. 'Don't look for the most crazy skills in a cofounder,' Richardson said. 'Look for somebody that you can trust, that's hard-working, that can learn the things they have to learn and that you can work with long term because we've been working together for six years now and it's probably going to be 20 more.'
Technical.ly
19-03-2025
- Technical.ly
Meet Alphalab's 2025 cohort of innovative Pittsburgh startups
Power Moves is a recurring series where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us at pittsburgh@ National job loss trends are hitting Pittsburgh. The latest employment data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a steady increase in the unemployment rate since 2023, signaling a broader trend of the US labor market cooling, which the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged last summer. Locally, the fallout is hitting one of Pittsburgh's largest employers. The University of Pittsburgh placed a hiring freeze on faculty and staff, citing broader economic and policy trends. In other parts of the ecosystem, though, business owners are still finding opportunities. A local hub for entrepreneurs has selected a startup founder to run its programming. Plus, the popular accelerator program AlphaLab announced 15 new companies joining its 2025 cohort. Read on below the chart for more on these decisions, and other power moves. AlphaLab announces 2025 cohort, $100K for each startup AlphaLab, a startup accelerator from Innovation Works, selected 15 startups for its 2025 cohort. The organization announced 12 of the startups in the cohort, with three more to be announced at a later date. Most of the companies chosen this year focus on healthtech or AI-powered tools: Admirra provides a specialized mental health practice management tool that aims to bridge the gaps left by traditional electronic health record systems. Astria Biosciences, Inc. offers a cost-effective, non-invasive blood test to diagnose and assess the risks of cerebral aneurysms. BAM! builds a battery-powered heating container that allows busy individuals to enjoy heated meals at any time. DashStrom helps individuals start local children's fitness businesses with its platform that combines fitness and life skills education. GripDynamix, Inc. patented a digital grip strength monitor that tracks lean muscle mass remotely, positioning grip strength as a vital biomarker. Hardly streamlines career development services with AI-driven tools, working to save time for job seekers and workforce organizations. Korion Health creates affordable at-home health monitoring tools, starting with the SoundHeart Stethoscope for remote primary care. Orbits Oncology uses AI-powered computer vision to analyze organoid models, providing insights for biopharma cancer drug research. Peachy Day offers the first integrative migraine app designed for health tracking, neurologist video visits and wellness coaching. S&K Cosmetics delivers high-quality microneedling pens for at-home use. SPM develops electric powertrain products designed for off-road vehicles. Wood Wide AI works to advance machine learning for numeric and tabular data. 'Each of these startups brings a strong vision to the table,' said Aaron Tainter, director of accelerator programs at Innovation Works, in a press release. 'Our goal is to help them transform their concepts into scalable, high-impact businesses.' Each company will receive $100,000 in investment and sector-specific guidance. The announcement follows a decision in January to unify the different AlphaLab accelerator programs, including AlphaLab Gear or AlphaLab Health, under one core curriculum. Pitt, one of the region's biggest employers, orders hiring freeze The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) ordered a hiring freeze for faculty and staff this month, citing federal funding uncertainty. This followed the university's decision to pause admission to its Ph.D. programs in late February. Pitt was the sixth largest recipient of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2024, receiving over $600 million across 1,062 awards last year. Under the Trump administration's plan to cut federal funding, including $4 billion in NIH spending, Pitt could lose around $115 million in funding, according to reporting from WESA. Pitt's Chief Financial Officer Dwayne Pinkney later said at a faculty assembly meeting for the university that enrollment trends, inflation and flat state funding also contributed to the university's decision to order the hiring freeze. Faculty members at the meeting voiced concerns about needing to fill critical teaching positions when the freeze was ordered, according to reporting from PublicSource. Pitt is one of the largest non-governmental employers in the city, with around 14,000 employees. Ascender hires local founder to be new programs director Ascender, a local hub for entrepreneurs, hired Annafi Wahed, founder of the bipartisan media startup The Flip Side, as its new programs director. As the programs director, Wahed will oversee the design and implementation of all of Ascender's programs, which include its incubation program and education series. Wahed knows the space well. She is a 2023 alum of Ascender's Founder's Hat Program, which she participated in a few months after she moved to Pittsburgh. 'At a time when I was still struggling to find my footing in a new city, the sense of community and camaraderie the program gave me was invaluable,' Wahed told 'I'm so excited to join Ascender's small but mighty team and help empower other entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh.' As a startup founder herself, Wahed built a newsletter subscriber list of over 200,000 and raised $900,000 in investment funding. She also brings over a decade of experience across the federal, private and nonprofit sectors to the new position. More power moves: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's $10 million AI Safety Science program selected Zico Kolter, head of the Machining Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, to conduct a research project on adversarial transfer, a phenomenon where attacks developed for one AI model are effective on other models. North Shore-based deep tech consulting firm Rivers Agile announced the launch of its new deep tech innovation center, located in Callery, PA. The 7,000-square-foot space will serve as a hub to test local projects, as well as advance the company's own products, like its augmented reality research tool Tupelo. Wabtec Corporation, a North Shore-based technology provider for the railroad industry, appointed Juan Perez to its board of directors and will be a nominee for election at Wabtec's annual meeting of stockholders in May 2025. AlarMax Distributors, Inc., a local wholesale distributor of security, fire, access control, AV and surveillance technologies, appointed Scott Shelander as its new president. Shelander brings 27 years of executive leadership experience to the role. Electronics manufacturer Intervala named Robert McKernan as its new president and CEO. McKernan, formerly of Schneider Electric, will replace Teresa Huber, who served in the position for nine years and will now move to a strategic advisory position on the company's board of directors. Duquesne University President Ken Gormley said he will step down from his position in July 2026 but will remain as chancellor, according to the university. He will have served as president for 10 years. The National Academy of Inventors elected University of Pittsburgh staff Yuan Liu and Juan Taboas as senior members, which recognizes their contributions to developing technologies that have made, or aim to make, a significant impact on the welfare of society. Doug Nicola, Madison Ebersole and Nathan Brouwer, all members of local community org PyData Pittsburgh, have stepped up to join the organization's team following an announcement that lead organizer Patrick Harrison would step down in mid-2025. A group of industry leaders and experts launched a local initiative called the AI Strike Team. The group aims to secure funding, foster collaboration, develop AI-focused innovation districts and promote Pittsburgh as a global AI hub to attract investment, talent and new companies to the region. The Regional Industrial Development Corporation, a non-profit focused on the economic development of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, will begin managing the advanced manufacturing production campus Neighborhood 91 near the Pittsburgh International Airport in October. Pittsburgh Public Schools launched a new three-year career and technical education program aimed at diversifying and strengthening the next generation of teachers by engaging current PPS students. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order aimed at improving the hiring process for laid-off federal workers seeking state government jobs. Shapiro said he wants to fill 5,600 state jobs deemed 'critical vacancies.' Electronics manufacturing startup Hellbender will move its headquarters to a 40,000-square-foot space on Penn Avenue in East Liberty, doubling its staff to 100 by the end of the year.
Technical.ly
04-03-2025
- Technical.ly
Here's what VCs are looking for in women entrepreneurs — and why its different for men
Startups founded by women face significant hurdles in raising venture capital in the US, but local VC experts say there are strategies they can use to level the playing field. Female founders should know they're more likely to be asked questions about risk mitigation and potential losses than male counterparts, according to investors at an Innovation Works panel last week. It's part of the systemic issues that can limit the success of female-founded startups. 'Try to flip the question,' said Meredith Meyer Grelli, a former founder and director of Project Olympus, a Carnegie Mellon University incubator program. 'You address their immediate concern and then you quickly move to how you're going to move forward in a positive growth manner.' VCs are more likely to ask men questions about their startup's potential for gains, while women are asked about the potential for losses, according to multiple studies published in the Harvard Business Review. This bias has been found across both male and female VCs and can have substantial funding consequences for startups, according to the research. Plus, female-only founded startups raised just 2% of VC funding last year, according to research from PitchBook. That's dramatically lower than startups cofounded by both men and women, which raised around 20% of VC funding last year. Female founders should also know that male founders are more likely to focus their pitches on their potential and future capabilities, while women often highlight their past accomplishments and achievements, said Lindsay Fairman, a former founder and venture partner at local investment firm BlueTree Venture Capital. This gender gap in self-promotion could be a contributing factor to a lack of funding going to female-founded startups. 'A lot of really smart women that I work with try to package their idea in a way that they think is going to be more palatable or more believable to investors,' Grelli said, 'so they don't go for the big swing and, in fact, that can make them harder to invest in.' Instead, women shouldn't be afraid to take on bigger, more challenging startup ideas, panelists said, while the community also works to break down barriers to entrepreneurship and build strong female coalitions that drive systemic change. Don't just network, build genuine connections that pay off later It's a common saying that deals are made on the golf course, but women aren't always invited to traditional networking opportunities, the panel experts said. To make more long-standing, genuine relationships connections, creating peer groups is essential, Grelli said. 'Create your own PayPal Mafia of other like-minded people who are going after something hard, who are trying to build something,' Grelli said. 'It might not happen as immediately as the cigar night where you get invited by the partner of a large venture capital firm, but it will help you.' For example, Grelli said she's organized a cookbook club for a decade and every woman in that group today is either leading or in a position of power at their organization. This approach can be 'playing the long game' but it does pay off, she said. Also, creating those relationships with people that aren't 'business first' can sometimes be a benefit, Fairman said. 'There's a lot of environments where you're going to be able to get support from people around you by not kicking off with your elevator pitch,' Fairman said, 'but by really just getting to know the person across the table.' Change starts with encouraging women and girls to 'bet on yourself' The gender gap in VC funding could be somewhat attributed to the lower number of female founders. In 2024, women represented just 14% of all startup founders, a slight decline from the previous year, according to a 2024 annual equity report from the research and fund management company Carta. What's preventing women from being a larger proportion of founders? Systemic barriers could be to blame, said Rezzan Kose, a former entrepreneur and venture partner at local investment firm 412 Venture Fund. For example, a persistent gender gap in STEM education could be contributing to the problem, she said. Later in life, women may face difficulties starting a company because of the unequal division of unpaid labor in the home, Fairman added. Women aged 18 to 24 spend about eight hours per week on household work compared to about four hours for men, according to research from the Gender Equity Policy Institute. This gender gap in free time widens as people enter their mid-twenties, especially if they choose to become parents, as women do almost three times more childcare than men. Women often 'reduce their big vision' because they have more responsibilities outside of work, Fairman said, and this is not something that's always taken into account when founders try to seek investment. Confronting that barrier starts all the way back while girls are still in school. 'I just gave a talk yesterday at a high school and it was for an entrepreneurship club…there were 45 kids in the room and two of them were girls,' Grelli said. 'I think we still do not tell girls that it's okay to bet on yourself.'
